volume on Dish TV commercials

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

beernuts <beerwithnutsNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in newsVTHc.21956
$Xb4.21490@nwrdny02.gnilink.net:

> Sick and tired of the volume for commercials being 2 times louder than
> program settings. Anybody else notice this problem with DISH?

It's not just DISH. A LOT of broadcasters beef up the commercials by as
much as 10db. And sometimes a technician will plug in two attenuators by
mistake (or just plain laziness and inattentiveness) and it will become
20db. I live in an apartment and have to ride the levels all the time.

There's even a bit of a problem on recorded material. My Buffy episodes
all blast the theme music (that head-banging piece by Nerf Herder played
at the opening and ending credits) enough so that I have to turn it down,
even with compression on from the DVD player.

You can do certain things:

Use compression of some sort, such as dynamic range compression in a DVD
player or in whatever stereo amp you're using to listen to TV. Or, if
your TV supports it, switch on the auto-volume feature, which will help
control the phenomenon.

Move to a place where loud sounds will not upset the neighbours.

Play your material into a quiet room so that high dynamic range doesn't
lose the normal speech levels in the noise.

Complain to the authorities (FCC and CRTC) about the blasting of
commercials. 10db means that a 10 watt program becomes a 100 watt
commercial. 20db means that a 1 watt program becomes a 100 watt
commercial.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Many years ago advertisers found out that by either shouting at customers or
placing enjoyable items in view of them made the sales of their product go
up. All the way back to the "Snake Oil" salesmen in their rickety old
wagons, this evolved into the media blasting materials we daily endure on
almost all TV and Radio Broadcasts and in our printed material.
Sad to say, in out technology today that the same routines are still
implemented by the advertising corporations, and their offshoots. Very much
to our chagrin and the customers dislike.
The only way to remedy this problem is for the consumer to boycott the items
being promoted, complain to the FCC and the manufacturer of the products.
Then to the advertising corporations who make millions doing this as their
production of income. Then, something may be done, but it's highly doubtful
that we can change the procedure at this point of time, we have grown to
accept this as a side line of "free television" broadcasting. Subsidizing
the broadcasters by purchasing the products promoted by a particular show,
station, network, et al fin.
"Ross Moody" <ross.moody@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:QPWHc.228021$Gx4.97351@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> Right it is a problem on Comcast Cable also. When or if you jump into
> Digital HD there is a great disparity between channels. When I surf the
> channels I mute the sound otherwise you can be blown away. I complained
and
> got no action.
> You would think that Cable could develop a floating sound reference and
tie
> all channels to it. If the customer wants to crank up the music thats his
> prerogative but at least start them all out at the same db level.. I
> remember old radios had AGC that seems to work. I guess digital is
> progress.
> Ross
>
> "Dave Oldridge" <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote in message
> news:Xns95225EDDA75C7doldridgsprintca@24.71.223.159...
> > beernuts <beerwithnutsNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in newsVTHc.21956
> > $Xb4.21490@nwrdny02.gnilink.net:
> >
> > > Sick and tired of the volume for commercials being 2 times louder than
> > > program settings. Anybody else notice this problem with DISH?
> >
> > It's not just DISH. A LOT of broadcasters beef up the commercials by as
> > much as 10db. And sometimes a technician will plug in two attenuators
by
> > mistake (or just plain laziness and inattentiveness) and it will become
> > 20db. I live in an apartment and have to ride the levels all the time.
> Snip
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Duke wrote:
----"How come this doesn't happen on my local channels when watching via
my roof antenna? It only happens to me when watching via
satellite."----


Reply:
The problem is not with over the air channels.It is mainly with
UPLINKED intermixed CONUS channels.I am not saying a local could not
have a problem like this;just less likely.
For instance,FOX SPORTS NET is one of the worst offenders about
disparate noise levels between ads and mainline programming.Their
programming is at a very LOW level,I have to raise it UP to even hear it
sometimes......but when they break for a commercial I have to RUN for my
remote control to avoid the sonic impact......I am seriously considering
purchasing a volume control leveller,even if a good one costs $200.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Duke" <sorry@spam.com> wrote in
news:3ucIc.11653$KP6.433200@twister.tampabay.rr.com:

>
> "Art" <plotsligt@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:IMmdnSXMIqJsI23dRVn-tA@comcast.com...
>> Many years ago advertisers found out that by either shouting at
>> customers
> or
>> placing enjoyable items in view of them made the sales of their
>> product go up. All the way back to the "Snake Oil" salesmen in their
>> rickety old wagons, this evolved into the media blasting materials we
>> daily endure on almost all TV and Radio Broadcasts and in our printed
>> material. Sad to say, in out technology today that the same routines
>> are still implemented by the advertising corporations, and their
>> offshoots. Very
> much
>> to our chagrin and the customers dislike.
>> The only way to remedy this problem is for the consumer to boycott
>> the
> items
>> being promoted, complain to the FCC and the manufacturer of the
>> products. Then to the advertising corporations who make millions
>> doing this as their production of income. Then, something may be
>> done, but it's highly
> doubtful
>> that we can change the procedure at this point of time, we have grown
>> to accept this as a side line of "free television" broadcasting.
>> Subsidizing the broadcasters by purchasing the products promoted by a
>> particular show, station, network, et al fin.
>> "Ross Moody" <ross.moody@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>> news:QPWHc.228021$Gx4.97351@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> > Right it is a problem on Comcast Cable also. When or if you jump
>> > into Digital HD there is a great disparity between channels. When
>> > I surf the channels I mute the sound otherwise you can be blown
>> > away. I complained
>> and
>> > got no action.
>> > You would think that Cable could develop a floating sound reference
>> > and
>> tie
>> > all channels to it. If the customer wants to crank up the music
>> > thats
> his
>> > prerogative but at least start them all out at the same db level..
>> > I remember old radios had AGC that seems to work. I guess digital
>> > is progress.
>> > Ross
>> >
>> > "Dave Oldridge" <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote in message
>> > news:Xns95225EDDA75C7doldridgsprintca@24.71.223.159...
>> > > beernuts <beerwithnutsNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in newsVTHc.21956
>> > > $Xb4.21490@nwrdny02.gnilink.net:
>> > >
>> > > > Sick and tired of the volume for commercials being 2 times
>> > > > louder
> than
>> > > > program settings. Anybody else notice this problem with DISH?
>> > >
>> > > It's not just DISH. A LOT of broadcasters beef up the
>> > > commercials by
> as
>> > > much as 10db. And sometimes a technician will plug in two
>> > > attenuators
>> by
>> > > mistake (or just plain laziness and inattentiveness) and it will
> become
>> > > 20db. I live in an apartment and have to ride the levels all the
> time.
>> > Snip
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
> How come this doesn't happen on my local channels when watching via my
> roof antenna ? It only happens to me when watching via satellite.

It's possible that your OTA tuner has built-in compression that is able
to contain the problem. My TV has it built-in as well, but it doesn't
work on the HDTV from the satellite box (which has its own compression
which is good for bringing up the low end of the dynamic range but
doesn't help much at the high end). I can fix the problem with my SONY
amp, but only if I switch it out of Dolby Surround mode.

Grrr Arghhhhh!

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.